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Downtown Portland

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

I cannot talk about downtown Portland without mentioning the places to shop at. I wished I learned about the TriMet sooner and studied the city map before our trip because there were so many local boutiques that Portland is known for that we just could not get to experience. None of the less, we still shopped a ton and scored major deals. Oregon does not have sales tax so you can bet we were happy to let loose as we hit up any store in sight.

I know, I know. It sounds silly to be reviewing a drug store, but you have no idea how much of a life saver this place was. Because the Airbnb apartment was located in the heart of downtown Portland, I was a bit weary of how I would get water and whatnot to stock up on for Memorial Day. This Rite Aid had a grocery section, which was helpful! Richard and I stocked up on water and some snacks, which saved us a wild late night trip to find food.

Pioneer Place is a large mall that covers a good four blocks of downtown Portland. Fortunately for myself, it was located only a block and a half from the apartment, which made it convenient for me to shop and wander around. Not only did I shop at Pioneer Place, but I also watched Godzilla at the Regal Pioneer Place Stadium 6 cinema, located on the top floor of the mall complex. The theater was quite small and like any theater the food was expensive, but the seats were comfortable (they recline!!!) and the theater is well-maintained. Deals were going on at
Forever 21,
H&M, and
Gap for Memorial Day and the employees were absolutely charming and kind. I also stopped by
Gamestop to decide on whether or not I would get the Wii U (unfortunately, I did not have any space in my luggage to do so) and was helped by kind employees who genuinely love their job.
If you are looking for more high end stores, Pioneer Place also houses Louis Vuitton,
Kate Spade,
J.Crew,
Tory Burch,
Tiffany & Co.,
Apple Store, and
Nordstrom as well as a large Macy's.

Back story: I wanted to stock up on actual groceries for Memorial Day so I went hunting for this Target. Little did we know that this Target shared the same building as Le Cordon Bleu (hence we got lost a little). I am not sure if this is just a large Target or it should have been called a Target City, but regardless it is a gigantic Target that offers everything you need from groceries to clothes! I got a lovely deal on water, coconut juice, frozen meals (our apartment has a microwave), and snacks as well as accessories to keep my hair out of my face due to the humidity. This Target gets the Michelle's thumbs up.

Even though we did not purchase anything at the Microsoft Store, I really had to give this place a shout out for their amazing service. A lot of the Microsoft Stores that I go into really hound me to purchase their tablets. While I understand that aspect of retail, I do not feel comfortable with constant bombarding or hard-selling of any product. The employees here were absolutely kind and helpful with my friend's questions and redirected us to potential places we could purchase what my friend needed. If you are ever planning on getting anything from the Microsoft Store, this is the place to go!

Unfortunately, I did not pick anything up from Nike. It is quite a shame given that Oregon is home to Nike, but we could not justify purchasing anymore shoes than we already had. Plus, my luggage was already filled to the brim with gifts for my parents. The reason why I added this to the post was because of the amazing employees. One in particular, to which I cannot remember his name for the life of me, was so kind and knowledgeable of the products in the store. I am not sure if it was any bigger than the Nike Town that I saw in San Francisco, but it was extremely well-kept and organized!

Like any travel shopping, one must always stop by a Nordstrom Rack (or Nordstrom in general). Because the state of Oregon does not have any sales tax, I kind of let loose and hit up every store I possibly could including Nordstrom Rack. Located in the heart of downtown Portland, it is smaller than the Nordstrom Racks that I visited in Seattle, but it still had major deals that picked-over California Nordstrom Racks would not have. While I did not buy anything for myself, I managed to snatch some short sleeve button ups for my dad for less than $30 each (brand names, mind you). The sales associates were kind and efficient with the lines as well!

If there's one place that I would shop at again in Portland, it would definitely have to be TJ Maxx. Like I mentioned before, a lot of the stores here in California get picked over. All the good stuff gets sold and all that is left are things you can purchase elsewhere for a lesser cost. This store was well organized and had a ton to choose from! I managed to get myself my first travel pillow and a lovely chiffon top! This place definitely gets the Michelle's thumbs up. Shout out to the employee who was super helpful when we were looking for the travel pillow!

And to finish off the list of places for you to shop, it is no other than Ross. Everywhere we went in downtown Portland, I would see someone holding a Ross paper bag. I say paper bag because I have not seen a single plastic bag in Portland (we collected and recycled so many paper bags from our shopping trip). Ross is not exactly the place I would shop at in California because it is no different from shopping at a TJ Maxx in California. Again, I will say it: everything gets picked over and it is cramped and disorganized. This Ross, however, was so clean and extremely organized. I found a top right away for my mom and you would not believe how much I spent on it. $8. Yes, eight-freaking-dollars for such a well-constructed garment. I could not believe my eyes and my wallet was absolutely happy. This place most definitely gets the Michelle's thumbs up!

*Disclaimer: I was not sponsored to write this post. None of the
businesses or brands above have asked me to write about these places. I
just wanted to share my experiences with everyone.*

I am a little late in posting this because I just wrapped up my finals for the semester, but that does not mean that I have forgotten about ...

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